Tsutsui, Yasutaka. Salmonella Men on Planet Porno.(Brief article)(Book review)

Tsutsui, Yasutaka. Salmonella Men on Planet Porno. Pantheon. Nov. 2008. c.272p. tr. from Japanese by Andrew Driver. ISBN 978-0-307-37726-5. $21.95. F

Imagine a cross between the music group the B-52s, Thomas Pynchon's V., Ryu Murakami's Coin Locker Babies, and James Turner's graphic novel Nil: A Land Beyond Belief, throw in a good dose of sf tropes and bitter social satire, and you'll start to get a good idea of what's in store for you in this collection of 13 imaginative stories from one of Japan's best-known sf writers. The climactic (pun intended) title story, "Salmonella Men," depicts a group of beleaguered scientists exploring a new planet dubbed Planet …